“Dedicated to Jon Lord”

The band received the message of Jon’s demise while gathered in Tennessee last July to record the album.

– We knew it was coming to a certain extent but it was still a terrible shock, Ian Gillan later told Classic Rock magazine.

– So there was a moment of silence and a few hushed words… we could feel Jon’s spirit there.

– Before long, everyone chipped in with a few choice anecdotes and the mood lightened up a little. Because Jon wouldn’t’ve wanted us to be morose. He would’ve wanted us to get on with it, Ian Gillan said.

Jon’s departure left an impression on the recording of album.

– There was a great deal of poignancy to a couple of the lyrics that just naturally came in at that point. A line in one of the new songs is: ‘Souls having touched are forever entwined.’ That’s in a track called Above and Beyond. It felt as if Jon was spiralling up into the music, explained Ian Gillan.

– He was a great source of inspiration at that particular moment. Once you’re finished with your body… well, I won’t get into all that, but I think the spirit becomes more evident, especially with those that you’ve embraced throughout your life.

In this Planet Rock interview from last July, a choked up Ian Gillan speaks about losing Jon and using his inspiration to write new lyrics:

Share this:

Like this:

2 comments

A nice gesture! Rick Wakeman also dedicated his re-recording of Journey to the Centre of the Earth to Jon. Apparantly, Jon was insisting that Rick should re-record it since it was only recorded live before. Any more albums dedicated to Jon?
/Göran